Why Organic Social Media is Important for B2B Marketing
You’ve no doubt heard a lot recently about the importance of using paid social media tools. But what about your organic social media presence? As platform algorithms continue to evolve and organic reach declines, you may be tempted to throw in the towel … but don’t give up just yet. Your organic social media presence is a valuable part of your B2B marketing strategy.
Don’t believe us? Here are five reasons you should invest the time and effort.
Prospects Expect You to Be On Social Media
Ever gone to Google looking for a company’s website only to discover they didn’t have one? Whether it was a local business or a larger institution, I’ll bet you were pretty shocked. Nowadays the same is true for a company’s social media presence. According to HubSpot, 84% of B2B marketers are using social media in some form. If you’re not one of them you’re missing out on a valuable touch point with your prospects and you can bet they’ll judge you for your absence.
It Builds Trust and Facilitates Two-Way Discussions
Once you’re there, it’s important to have a true presence on the platforms you choose. Putting the time in to your organic social media presence is a great way to build trust and create engagement with your prospects. You’ll want to post consistently (at least daily on most platforms) so followers know there’s a “real-person” behind that computer screen ready to answer their questions and meet their needs. Just make sure you don’t leave them hanging when they reach out. Create a place where people can have an open two-way dialogue with your brand and each other. Trust us, they’ll thank you for it. Being accessible is key.
It Makes You Focus on Quality Content
Social Media can be a great way to distribute your brand’s content to the people who matter most (an audience that’s actually looking for it), but if it isn’t engaging it won’t go far. This is especially true for organic social media. It’s important that you really focus on providing value and giving the people what they want, after all that’s why they followed you in the first place. Notice the same question popping up consistently (or social media or otherwise)? Develop content to help answer it and establish yourself as your prospect’s go-to resource. Just be sure to mix softer posts with your hard-sell promotional posts (after all, would you “like” a photo of packaging or just keep scrolling?) and make sure all content is optimized for success with appropriate titles and images that will make an impact in the feed.
It Helps Your SEO
Social Media and SEO make for a powerful team. Links to your social media platforms will show up in Google’s search results and, if you’ve optimized correctly, the knowledge graph (that box on the right with the answers to all your questions). This becomes especially important when people search for you by name. If you’re not maintaining an organic social media presence you could be missing on out on nabbing a little more attention not just from prospects but also from the almighty Google Gods.
You’ll Need One to Run Paid Campaigns
Remember those paid social media campaigns I mentioned earlier? Most platforms require you to have a page tied to those ads and you’ll want it be active when people click through from any campaigns you have running. After all if they decide they want to learn more you’ll want to be sure there’s some engaging information there waiting for them.
